Spider-Man: Returning Home
by MissxFaith
Summary: (Discontinued) An AU where Spider-Man is facing grave consequences for a mistake he made. Peter's in prison, but why? Where are the Avengers? Where are his friends? Where is he?
1. SIX MONTHS LATER

(Okay... so this is an AU that takes place after Spider-Man: Homecoming, but before Infinity War. Something's happened that's put Peter in prison... and the rest will unfold as the story progresses.)

He hears nothing. He hears everything. There's darkness, then a flash of light. He doesn't know where he is. He doesn't know much of anything anymore.

There's a name at the back of his thoughts. A name he hasn't heard in months. He can't quite place where he's heard it from, or even who the person is, but for some reason he thinks of it as someone flings open his cell door.

Yes. Cell door. He's still in his cell. Nothing has changed. Nothing at all.

"Get up," a gruff voice demands, yanking him up from the cold concrete floor. "Today's your lucky day, Spider-Boy. You're getting moved from solitary."

Ah, yes. He would get to move out to the main compound. He would be thrown into the metaphorical lion's den with the other prisoners. He would see the light of day—albeit, from behind steel bars—for the first time in six months.

"Keep moving," the guard says, pushing him down the long corridor in the solitary wing of the prison. "I ain't got all day."

Peter snorts despite himself. These guards were virtually useless. Any one of these inmates could overpower them, if they really wanted to. These guys were only human, and no match for the prisoners inside these concrete walls.

The teen stays quiet as the guard leads him from solitary to the combined cells. He feels acutely aware of danger lurking somewhere around him, but he's been feeling that for quite some time now.

He looks different than he used to, he thinks idly, as he marches down the corridor. His auburn hair was getting to long, so they cropped it as short as possible. He didn't get fed much at this place, and, with his enhanced metabolism, he usually spent most of his day feeling sick or dizzy.

Sometimes he thinks they do it on purpose, just to make him suffer.

He's also got a scar now. It runs from his left elbow to his wrist. He doesn't like to think about how he got it.

"Here we are," the guard announces, jolting Peter out of his thoughts. "Have fun," he adds with a cruel smirk.

The teenager is practically shoved into the new cell. Peter almost loses his balance, but his fall is caught by someone. A rough-looking girl with raven-black hair and cold gray eyes.

She shoves him back and studies him closely with her steely gaze. He feels unnerved by her intense stare.

"Newbie?" She guesses, her voice low and raspy.

He shakes his head, trying for indifference. "Solitary," he corrects.

She nods slowly, a smirk forming on her full lips. "Ah, you're one of those, then."

He briefly wonders what she means by this, but then another person walks up to him. A boy about his age with lots of face piercings.

"Aren't you Spider-Boy?" The teenager asks, sounding mildly curious.

"Spider-Man," Peter corrects sharply.

The girl looks between the two, confused. "You know him?" She asks the guy.

"Who doesn't?" The boy responds, giving Peter a smirk. "He's like, famous around here."

The girl nods, her gaze flicking back to Peter. "What'd you do, then? How'd you end up in here?"

Wouldn't she like to know?

"I thought prisoners weren't supposed to talk to each other," Peter says instead. "I really don't want to go back to solitary so soon."

Although that was a lie.

The girl narrows her eyes at him. "Watch your back," She says, looking a little irritated. "Or you might start wishing you were back in solitary."


	2. MEETING THE OTHERS

Peter has nightmares sometimes. Nightmares comprised of memories from another lifetime.

Shouting. Bright lights. A gunshot. Sirens in the distance. Lying on the pavement, unconscious. Handcuffs. Being shoved roughly into a police car. Then nothing.

Then everything.

Peter knows his memories aren't quite... intact. Some things he's made up, some things happened differently. Over these past six months, he's forgotten what's real and what he imagined.

What lies did he tell them?

What lies did they tell him?

He doesn't know anymore. The nightmares are a mixture of memories and the jumbled mind of a seventeen-year-old. Some things that happened... well, he chooses not to think about that night as much as he can help it.

Maybe he dreamed it all up, who knows? Maybe those gunshots really did kill that man. Maybe Peter did shoot him. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

But then why can't he remember what happened after that?

The teen's troubling thoughts carry him day in and day out. They've been following him ever since the nightmares showed up—which was four months ago. He doesn't remember his first two months at the prison, or how he got here in the first place.

The nightmares seemed to be the beginning of memories trickling back in ever so slowly. Too bad that they're unreliable. In theory, they could all be part of his extraordinary imagination. In theory...

"Yo, Peter. You've been starin' at that wall for half an hour now."

The teenager forces his mind back to the present. He's been out of solitary for a week now. He's learned that the girl he was shoved into on his first day here is named Lila, and that she was put in here for arson. The boy he met with all the piercings is named Hugo, and he was put in prison for some petty crimes, like theft.

"You're a step up from most of the other people in this cell, you know that?" Hugo had said on Peter's first day out of solitary. "None of them have done anything so... bold."

Peter had rolled his eyes at that, but Hugo wasn't joking. Peter was the only person in the combined cell that was put in prison for something greater than arson or armed robbery.

Nobody else in this cell had killed someone.

"You said you know some of the other people in here?" Peter currently asks, turning around to face Hugo. "Any of 'em got connections outside?"

The boy opposite Peter raises a studded eyebrow. There's something about him that reminds Peter of someone he used to know, but the teen quite can't place what it is.

"They might..." he answers vaguely. "But everything comes at a price in here, y'know?"

Peter nods, surveying the cell. Aside from Hugo and Lila, there were two girls in the far corner of the small space, and a younger-looking boy curled up in a ball in the middle of the floor.

None of them looked like the type to have connections outside the prison's walls.

"What kind of price?" Peter asks hesitantly.

Hugo shrugs, looking around the cell. "That blonde girl over there?" He points to one of the girls in the corner. "She likes shiny things."

Peter raises an eyebrow, "Shiny things?"

"She's... different," Hugo says by way of explanation. "But maybe if you can find her a piece of jewelry or something, she'll talk."

"And she has connections outside?"

"She gets one monthly phone-call home," Hugo responds, eyeing the blonde-haired girl with something like distaste. "Her parents are filthy rich, and they're trying to get her out of here ASAP."

Peter tucks this information away from analysis later on. "What's she in for, anyways?"

Hugo smirks in a secretive way. "She got in some deep shit with the Avengers. Almost collapsed a whole building—with people inside of it. I guess it was all over the news and everything, though that was about five months ago now."

At the mention of the notorious superhero group, Peter can't help but think back to that night. The flashing lights, the gunshots, the shouts... The Avengers were there, weren't they?

Yes. How could he have forgotten?

Why, though? Were they the ones that called the police? Did they even know it was Peter lying there on the ground? Why did no one stop the man? Why didn't they do something earlier?

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why—

"Hey, man. I think you're trippin' out again," Hugo says, snapping his fingers in front of Peter's face.

The teenager grimaces and shakes his head to clear his thoughts. "Sorry. I was just... thinking."

Hugo frowns, but doesn't comment. "So yeah..." he continues, as if Peter hadn't just zoned out for five whole minutes. "Blondie over there might be able to get a call in for you, if you can find her some jewelry or something."

"Okay," Peter nods, still trying focus back in on the situation at hand. "I think I can find something."

Hugo smiles, patting Peter on the shoulder. "You're really somethin' around here, man. I'm sure someone will have something to spare."

The teenager was still a bit thrown-off by how the other inmates seemed to be almost impressed with his... crime. In Peter's opinion, murder wasn't exactly a selling point for friendship, but what did he know?

"If you don't mind me asking," Hugo adds, almost as an afterthought. "Who are you going to call?"

Peter debates whether he should tell the boy. It probably wouldn't hurt. "My aunt," he responds. "I used to live with her before... all this happened, and I... I want to let her know that I'm okay."

But that was a lie, kind of. Peter is going to call his aunt May, but not to tell her about his personal well-being. If anyone knew what the hell was going on, it would probably be her.

She was there when it happened, that night. She heard the shots. She saw the flashing lights. Maybe she also saw the man.

Maybe Peter can convince her to tell the police the truth. Or maybe she'll convince Peter that it was his fault.

Either way, Peter needs to know. Six months in solitary has left him without any contact from the outside world. He needs to know what he's missed, and why he's missing so much of his memory.

At least this will be a start.


	3. TWO WEEKS BEFORE

/ _QUEENS, NY/_

 _\TWO WEEKS BEFORE_ \

Peter was walking home from school, his friends chattering about an upcoming dance or something next to him. He had sworn off school dances ever since his encounter with Vulture, but that didn't stop Ned and MJ from trying to entice him into going to this year's homecoming dance.

"Sorry, guys," he said as they approached his apartment building. "But I'm still behind on schoolwork." Because he just went on another mission with the other Avengers. Nothing too big, but enough for him to miss a couple days of school. "I can't keep falling behind. Aunt May's gonna kill me if my GPA keeps dropping."

Ned let out a loud sigh, and MJ rolled her eyes skeptically. "With that Stark Internship, I'd doubt if it would even matter. Isn't he, like, trying to pay for college?"

Peter bit his lip, wondering how much he should tell his friends about Tony Stark. They knew he was Iron Man, of course, and that he was helping Peter and his aunt out financially, but not much else.

"He is," the teen eventually admitted. "But I'm determined to get into a good school by my own merits."

MJ laughed then, amused. "Okay, sure. He's still Tony freaking Stark, though. It's not like he can't afford it."

Peter briefly wondered if MJ was a bit jealous of him, but he immediately banished that thought. It was absurd, wasn't it?

"Y'know," Ned cut in, trying to ease the oncoming tension. "I've met Tony Stark before."

"You saw him from a distance, while he was doing a public interview," Peter corrected with an eye roll.

"It still counts," Ned replied with a slight pout. "Although... it would be pretty cool to meet him formally, you know? Maybe some of the other Avengers, too?" He looked at Peter hopefully as the three made their way into the teenager's apartment building.

"Tony's a busy man," Peter responded evasively. "So are the others."

"I'm sure they could spare a few minutes, couldn't they?" Ned persisted, looking over at MJ. "Right, M?"

MJ sighed and mumbled something about boys being stupid. Peter unlocked the door to his aunt's apartment, and the three teenagers stepped inside.

"May's still at work," Peter explained as they walked through the empty apartment. "She shouldn't be back before six."

"And that matters because...?" MJ rose an eyebrow.

Peter and Ned raced toward the teen's bedroom. "Well, I don't think she'd quite approve of this," Peter explained, pulling out his laptop from his desk drawer. "And I suppose Tony wouldn't, either... now that I think about it."

Ned plopped down on Peter's bed, and the other teenager followed suit. MJ stood in the doorway of Parker's bedroom, arms crossed. "Are you two trying to hack into the surveillance cameras from the strip club down the street again?" She asked, only half-joking.

"We're trying to get Peter's suit some new upgrades," Ned said, rolling his eyes at her comment.

"And we've never hacked into security cameras," Peter added defensively, though his face turned a couple shade redder than usual.

"Why can't you just ask Stark for new upgrades?" MJ asked, taking a seat next to Peter. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

The teenager shrugged in response, though his casual demeanor seemed a bit forced. "He tried to give me this... this super fancy suit the last time I saw him," he answered. "I declined his offer, and he seemed pretty bummed out about it."

"Why didn't you take it?" MJ questioned, looking confused.

Peter shrugged again. "I guess it just didn't feel right at the time."

Ned looked over at the other teen, then. "You're the only person I know who would turn down Tony Stark on an offer like that." He shook his head. "You really missed an opportunity there, man."

Peter frowned, then looked back down a his laptop screen. "Yeah... yeah, maybe I did," he conceded, though he didn't really feel like he had. "Either way, though, my suit should probably get an upgrade."

Ned nodded, taking Peter's laptop. "Yes. Leave that to me."

Parker rolled his eyes and moved to his closet to get his Spider-Man suit. He had spent most of his night's patrolling the surrounding streets for the past few months. His suit was getting a little worn down, but he didn't want to admit as much to Tony. The billionaire would probably make him accept the new suit.

"It's a little... rough," he said as he handed it to Ned. "Karen still works fine, though."

Ned nodded, hands tapping away at the laptop's keyboard. He grabbed the suit from Peter and started examining it. "Geez, man, when was the last time you washed this thing?" He sniffed it and then made a point of hoisting it across the room. "It smells worse the a middle-schooler's gym locker!"

"Who's Karen?" MJ asked, getting up from the bed to look at Peter's suit.

"She's an AI inside my suit," Peter explained, sitting back down next to Ned. He then turned to the teen beside him, "And I'll have you know that I washed it this past weekend."

Ned scrunched up his nose, looking a bit repulsed. "That thing should get washed at least every other day, Peter. You could knock someone out just by having them smell it."

"It's not that bad," Peter argued, crossing his arms. "You're being over dramatic."

Ned started working on the new upgrades, and Peter made comments about them every now and again. MJ resorted to working on homework she hadn't finished in class, and eventually to playing on her phone. It was around five when Peter got a message of his phone.

"It's probably May," he said as he got up to retrieve his devise from his bedside table. "Maybe she's staying late tonight."

But as he checked his message, he was surprised to find that it wasn't from May at all.

"Everything okay?" MJ asked, seeing Peter stare at his phone without typing a response, or saying anything at all.

Ned looked up from the laptop, eyebrows furrowed. "Summons from Stark?" He guessed.

Peter could only nod his head in response. "I Uh... I gotta go," he said hurriedly. "It's... it's bad."

Ned stood up, setting the laptop down on Peter's bed. "But the updates aren't done yet—"

"Don't worry," he replied, waving a hand dismissively. "I don't think I'll be needing it for this."

Ned wanted to ask what he meant by that, but Peter was already racing out of his bedroom and out of the apartment. "Stay here and finish the updates!" He called back to Ned. "I'll be back in a couple hours!"

"What if your aunt comes back before then?!" MJ called back, giving Ned a look. "What should we do?"

"Tell her Tony needed me!" Peter answered, swinging open the front door. "But don't tell her about the updates!"

Ned and MJ stared at Peter rushed out of the apartment and down the hall. The two teenagers looked at each other and then at the still-open front door.

"Is he always like this?" MJ eventually asked, walking over to close the apartment's front door.

"Not usually," Ned answered, looking bewildered. "This is strange... even for Peter."

MJ nodded, walking back into Parker's bedroom. "Hey, look," she said, grabbing Peter's discarded phone. "Let's see what that text was all about."

"We shouldn't look at his messages," Ned said with a frown, taking the phone from her. "That would be rude."

MJ rolled her eyes and took the devise back. "It's not like I'm looking at all of his messages, Ned. I just wanna see what made him freak out like that so suddenly."

Ned looked conflicted, but he didn't stop her as she unlocked Peter's phone and looked for the most recent message he'd received. She read it over, frowned, then read it over again.

"What does it say?" Ned asked, peering over her shoulder at the text.

"It... it doesn't make sense," MJ answered, handing him the devise. "What does this mean?"

Ned studied the text, trying to decipher the weird almost code-like structure it was worded in, then made a little "oh!" sound.

"What does it mean?" MJ repeated, confused.

Ned slowly looked up from the phone, his gaze darkening. "This... This isn't good, M. Peter's gotten himself into... something bad."

"How bad?" MJ wondered aloud, raising an eyebrow.

"We have to tell Tony."

"But didn't Peter say that the text was from Tony?"

Ned shook his head, a worried expression filling his features. "He lied, MJ. This isn't just some summons to go on another mission. This is... this is really bad."

"I don't understand—"

"Stay here," Ned said, racing back to Peter's laptop. "Stay here and wait for Peter's aunt. Once she gets here, make sure she stays here until I can contact someone." Ned grabbed the laptop atop Parker's bed, and also put Peter's phone in his back pocket. "I'm gonna video message Stark, if I can get him online, and tell him where Peter went. If he doesn't answer, I'll have to try some of Parker's other contacts."

MJ stood in the middle of Peter's room, behind confused. "I still don't understand," she said. "Where did Peter go?"

"There's an old warehouse a few blocks from here," Ned explained. "That's where he went." He gathered Peter's suit in his arms, along with the laptop, and started towards the front door. "But that's not the bad part."

"Then what is?" MJ questioned, trailing behind Ned.

"The bad part is who he's meeting at the warehouse," the other teen answered, opening the front door again. "And what they're gonna do."

"But that still doesn't explain—"

"I need to get ahold of Stark now," Ned cut her off. "And you need to stay here in case May comes back before Peter."

MJ wanted to ask more questions, but Ned was already rushing down the hallway after Peter. What had she gotten herself into? Why couldn't she have just taken the bus home for once?

AUTHOR'S NOTE: So this is really fun for me to write. I hope you guys are enjoying it so far!

Just so there isn't any confusion, this story takes place when Peter is in his Junior year of high school, so the year after Spider-Man: Homecoming.

I'm not sure about the time-gap between that movie and Infinity War, so in this AU Peter was a sophomore more Spider-Man: Homecoming, and so now he's a junior.

(Cuz 17 can be the age of a junior in high-school, right? I'm currently 16 and I'll be a junior this fall, and my birthday is halfway thru the school year. So yeah... that makes sense, right?)

Anyways, I know this story might not be making a lot of sense right now, but hopefully these flashback chapters will help clear some things up.

Also, feel free to leave reviews if you're liking this story so far, or just to tell me what you think of it in general! :)

I always appreciate feedback, and it helps me improve my writing for future chapters/stories.

Thanks again for reading this story so far! I hope you continue to enjoy it! ;)

~ Miss Faith


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